The invention relates to a device for cutting meat from leg parts, in particular thighbones, of poultry, which portions are provided with a bone.
It is known to manually cut meat from chicken""s thighbones. The workman here takes a thighbone in his hand and lays it on a cutting table. There, holding the thighbone, he removes the skin while holding a knife in the other hand. After that, still holding the thighbone, he first makes a longitudinal incision, more or less parallel to the bone, with the knife, at the one side of his other hand, and subsequently a second longitudinal incision at the other side of said hand. Two filet pieces of meat have then been obtained, leaving a bone with meat residues, also called spare-rib.
A drawback of said method is that it is laborious. Another drawback is that there is a good chance of injuries, because the thighbone has to be held during cutting and for reasons of efficiency the incisions have to be made as close along the bone as possible.
An object of the invention is to improve on this.
To that end the invention provides in a device for skinning and cutting leg parts, in particular thighbones, of poultry, which portions are provided with a bone, comprising a frame and means arranged on the frame for skinning the leg part, as well as means arranged on the frame for cutting through the leg part along the bone, in which the device furthermore comprises means for conveying the leg part past the skinning means and after that past the cutting means.
In this way a device is provided with which the leg parts are skinned and cut automatically, so that there no longer is a danger of injuries. Moreover the various treatments can be carried out simultaneously to subsequent leg parts, so that the performance is increased.
Preferably the conveying means comprise a toothed revolving driven endless belt or ring, preferably provided with a double row of teeth. The leg parts are positively conveyed by the teeth to the subsequent treatment locations and conveyed past them.
Preferably the teeth of both rows of teeth are inclined and facing away from each other for optimal grip on the leg parts.
A very compact arrangement is obtained when the circular path is substantially situated in a vertical plane.
A simple and compact design of the device according to the invention is obtained when the toothed ring or toothed belt follows a substantially circular path.
The safety of the operator of the device is further increased when at least over a part of the circumference of the toothed ring or toothed belt a hood has been arranged, which forms a tunnel for the leg part.
The safety is further increased when the device furthermore comprises means for deactivating the conveying means when contacting a hand. Said means preferably are situated at the beginning of a tunnel, at the end of the track where the leg parts are placed on the device.
Preferably the cutting means comprise two knives positioned on either side of the conveying means for cutting off the meat along the bone.
Preferably the knives are arranged for adjustment of their distance one to the other in a direction transverse to the movement path of the leg parts, so that adjustment can take place to the size of the leg part to be cut.
Preferably, each knife is provided with its own drive, so that the adjustment of the mutual distance can take place easily.
When the cutting means are situated at the bottom, in case of a vertical arrangement of the device, the free space below the conveying means can be used when separating cut-off pieces of meat that can be very big.
In an advantageous manner a retaining means is arranged downstream of the cutting means, for converting the horizontal ejection direction of the cut-off pieces of meat into a falling direction.
Preferably the skinning means are situated above the cutting means and below a placement track. Thus optimal use is made of gravity during the treatment process.
The device is furthermore provided with means for guiding the bone after cutting to a location of discharge at a distance from the cutting means.